Turkey Vulture Soaring
It is going to be a great weekend to get on the move under the bright spring sun in clear, deep blue skies. Birds like this Turkey Vulture will be soaring over the lands of the Chautauqua-Allegheny region and more songbirds will be heading back to their breeding grounds. Go out and see what’s up!
Read MoreFoliage Flight
Goodbye to the fall foliage, and goodbye to those dots – they are Turkey Vultures heading to the south for the winter. Some will try to hang on in the Chautauqua-Allegheny region, but once the snow starts coming and life goes into hiding it becomes very difficult for these scavengers to find food, and the competition skyrockets. We will see them drifting up along Lake Erie again next spring.
Read MoreTurkey Vulture
During a late afternoon on a lovely day last week I did a double take as I found an unexpected bird on the lawn – a Turkey Vulture! It had discovered a dead Eastern Chipmunk only moments earlier and was preparing to do its job. I was with my Shetland Sheepdog, Zach, who had not seen the bird over the slight hill in the lawn. I walked back to him, bent down and told him to look at this bird as I pointed. He eagerly glanced around and spotted it, eyes widening and slowly creeping towards it out of curiously and intrigue despite my cautioning. He held at this position, head forward,...
Read MoreTurkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)
Here’s a Halloween-themed sight! Non-hawk watchers often ask me, “How do you know if a Turkey Vulture is migrating?” instead of it soaring around looking for a meal. Even this photo can help explain that to some degree. Most folks, even non-birders, can picture a Turkey Vulture in the sky with wings extended, held straight, in a dihedral – wings angled above horizontal. Sometimes this is dramatic and the bird looks like it is making a V. However, if this photo was a silhouette you may think Osprey before anything else. Turkey Vultures on the move at lofty heights,...
Read MoreBoothe Park Hawk Watch 9/12 – 182 migrant raptors
We had a decent day at the Boothe Park Hawk Watch in Stratford, Connecticut yesterday, considering the deep blue sky in control, as we tallied 182 migrant raptors filling in the 9:30-4:30 time frame. Having no clouds in the sky makes it very difficult to spot hawks, eagles, falcons, vultures and so forth flying at altitudes in the thousands of feet. Light clouds, especially cirrus, provide a helpful backdrop to view them on without obscuring any or dumping precipitation which would stop the birds from moving south. In essence many migrants likely flew by right over our heads that we could...
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